| In the notorious armies of the early civilizations, good | | | | They held tournaments to encourage and test them |
| archers were great assets and were usually used as | | | | for accuracy and precision. Soon after, they would |
| the first offense. Their arrows caused mass | | | | train shooting arrows while riding horses. And at a |
| destruction on the battlefields and could topple large | | | | certain age, they would proceed to join the army.On |
| numbers. Civilizations that held archers in high regard | | | | the battlefield, archers are faced with enemies from |
| in their armies were the Greeks, the Persians, the | | | | all sides. A technique where an archer shoots two |
| Parthian, the Chinese and the Indian armies. The | | | | arrows at one time would bring down the enemy's |
| famous phrase 'a parting shot' actually originates from | | | | defenses. One arrow is shot on a high trajectory and |
| the a shooting style wherein the rider turns in the | | | | the other at a lower trajectory thus hitting the |
| saddle to shoot as he and his horse rode away from | | | | target on two different angles. In addition, the |
| the enemy. This shot is called the 'Parthian shot.' | | | | development of the bodkin point gave their arrows |
| Archers often rode on horseback and combined | | | | the ability to penetrate deeper into the enemy's |
| speed with close range like the mythological | | | | armor.Longbows require a lot of skill and training |
| characters of Apollo and Odysseus that are depicted | | | | before being able to shoot an arrow and hit a target. |
| using bows and arrows riding horses and chariots. | | | | This training took a lot of years. With the crossbow |
| Other archers are positioned in strategic places of | | | | however, anyone can shoot an arrow, although a |
| height increasing accuracy and effectiveness of the | | | | little training is needed to hit a target. This and the |
| shot.In Medieval Europe, however, the archer's use in | | | | fact that the crossbow had the same penetrating |
| battle was not as significant and predominant as | | | | power and range of the longbow, made it useful in |
| myth has it. In reality, bowmen were one of the | | | | the early civilizations up to today. Unfortunately, it |
| lowest paid soldiers in the army and were often just | | | | takes a significant amount of time to reload an arrow |
| trained peasants. The bow and arrow were labeled | | | | compared to the longbow.In centuries after, the use |
| as lower class weapons because they were cheap to | | | | of bows in the army became obsolete with the |
| make compared to the very expensive armor and | | | | development of firearms. Even when bows had a |
| swords that clad men-at-arms. This low value made | | | | longer range and could reload faster than the first |
| the bow a mere toy of the nobility and peasants as | | | | rifles, the penetrating power of a bullet and the |
| well. The Vikings, however, saw the prowess of | | | | minimal training needed reigned supreme. In due time, |
| archery and made it one of their foremost weapons | | | | guns and bullets would defeat the bow and arrow in |
| in their expeditions throughout Western Europe in the | | | | range, accuracy, proficiency and in reload time. |
| 9th and 10th centuries.Following this example, the | | | | Because of archery's decline in popularity, the 16th |
| English had learned to appreciate and hold in high | | | | century English monarch mandated that every man |
| regard the power of the bow and arrow. In the | | | | of fighting age practice archery and Henry VIII |
| Hundred Years' War, the English deployed huge | | | | banned all sport except archery during Sundays. Their |
| numbers of archers using English Longbows. This | | | | efforts to preserve this fighting style helped archery |
| strategy gave them tactical dominance. Seeing this | | | | survive until the present day. In this day and age, |
| much success, archers were soon recruited and | | | | archery is no longer a weapon of war but a sport |
| farming peasants started training since childhood. Each | | | | that is a true test of precision and accuracy. |
| boy was given and trained with a bow of his height. | | | | |